Not sure either. Mine are all hardwired too with a battery back up. I replace the batteries every Halloween because I take the day off to prep for the big night.
The only reason I know about replacing them every 8-10 years is because I have had 3 out of 7 fail. The MFG sent me new ones but asked for the expiration date of the old ones. They said theirs need to be replace after 10 years and sure enough it states it in the manual.
A friend just replaced his Kiddie one a few days ago and theirs say 7 years.
I tried the audio detection device and don't care for it much.
I'm now going the hardwired approach using the Kidde and dry contact sensor. I know most of you are using a battery powered external contact sensor, however I would like to go with a hardwired sensor. Anyone have any advice when wiring the Kidde to a hardwired dry contact? I was thinking of these below for both Kidde Smoke and CO feeds... I was aiming for a zwave dual external contact sensor. Will this work?
So, does anyone know how to wire up a Kidde smoke relay to a Zooz zen17 device? 
The relay comes with both NO and NC wires so up to you on which one you use with the Zen 17. Nothing special should be required with the Zen17 vs contact sensor, though I have never personally tried.
I personally use both actually, NC is connected to my hardwired Vista security panel and the NO is connected to a Zwave relay that I modified to use USB mains power.
Here are very old pictures of my setup using both the smoke and CO relays:
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Hmmm, I assumed I would be connecting to the input terminals on the zen17 as they are the dry contact sensors, correct?
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Correct you will use the C terminal and either NC or NO depending on which wire you use from the Kidde relay.
That's my issue. Shouldn't I be connecting to the C and VC terminals on the input side? I'm not trying to control a device, just monitoring so I can send a push notification.
Sorry I had to pull up a picture of the device to remember and yes incorrect. The S1 and C are for switches and dry contact so those are what you will use. C and VC are for DC/AC input.
I got this working successfully using Kidde smoke CO detectors and the two Kidde relays connected to the Zen17 device on S1, C and S2, C terminals. Be sure to update the HE driver to contact sensor for S1 and S2 inputs.
Works great, no battery changing!!! Yay!
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I still have 4 Halo (3 regular and 1 plus) in operation. Going to be sad when they finally hit their lifespan and I have no good alternative. Not only have they been accurate and easily paired with Hubitat, but being able to control the LEDs has made them useful for status and nightlights. As an added bonus they have temperature, humidity, and air pressure reporting.
The only annoyance is the plus really. Since weather alert regions are so large we often get alerts for places up to an hour away... and that weather never comes to us. Even though we have had it for years it still startles the kids and wife when it does the weather tone and then starts speaking (the weather alerts automated message). It can be hushed by pressing the button... but annoying.
I really wish some company would come out with a hardwired (with battery backup), interconnected, with controllable LEDs, combo (smoke + CO) unit like them... Z-Wave or ZigBee. Throw in some additional sensors like a temperature and humidity sensor, light sensor, and/or motion sensor and you would have a great system that could hide in plain site for general monitoring and status.
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Yep, I have a couple non-plus Halos (small house) and I'll be super bummed when they expire -- they are awesome. I love the ability to use them as a temp sensor and the customizable LED is great for rule/HSM alerts.
It's pretty surprising there's still not anything truly equivalent available today -- maybe the certification process for a safety device like this is a beast and the market volume just isn't there yet - who knows. But I'd think a bigger company like First Alert or Kidde would have deep enough pockets and infrastructure in place to either really get in the smart-home game or at least partner with an Ecolink, Zooz, etc to get something available.
@snell I'm still a fan of the Nest protects. In use with ecolink z-wave firefighters (I test mine once a month and haven't had one fail) They also have temp reporting.
I had a 1st gen Nest Protect shortly after they came out (pre-Halo) because they sounded pretty good and had the promise of a bunch of sensors.
But then they decided to make it difficult for anyone but themselves (or very closely connected via their ecosystem) to use that data... that definitely turned me off. Once it expired I replaced it with a Halo I purchased.
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I still have my Nest protects and have them connected through homebridge+hubitat. Love them!
